---

Methods & Tools - April 2021
Sharing global software development expertise since 1993

---

=== Sponsor ===

---

5 Ways to Time Travel Test [Whitepaper]

Temporal testing is critical for date sensitive business rules such as insurance rates, billing, and enrollment. Efficient time travel testing can increase your test coverage, accelerate development, and improve software quality.

Read our whitepaper to learn the 5 ways to time travel software!

---

*** Updates ***

---

Last Articles Published on Methods & Tools Website

Agile Contracts: Reaching an Agreement Agile deliveries rely heavily on collaboration and demonstration during the project to enable the buyer to have a high level of control and be able to make quick decisions on matters such as solution direction and the acceptance of work. However, this means the buyer should not contractually require the supplier to take the risk on items that it doesn't fully control, for example, achieving functionality by fixed milestones, gates and deliverables that may have framed the supplier's obligations in traditional contracts. Read more...

---

*** From The Archives ***

---

Articles from Methods & Tools' Archives

Software Gardening: Yet Another Crappy Analogy or a Reality? Software gardening is not a practice, an attitude, a skill or a special knowledge. It's all of them plus the love you have for software development. And this love you should show it continuously, every day, in every single line of code you write. Read more...

---

=== Sponsor ===

---

Advertise with Methods & Tools

Reach an audience of more than 60'000 professional software developers, software testers and project managers publishing with Methods & Tools for as low a $60 / month. Do you want to promote a software development tool? Are you interested in buying a link to your website from a good reference?

Contact Methods & Tools today to advertise with us!

---

*** Quote of the Month ***

---

On the surface, test plans sound like an excellent idea. For instance, here's the definition of a test plan taken from Wikipedia: "A test plan is a document detailing the objectives, resources, and processes for a specific test for a software or hardware product. The plan typically contains a detailed understanding of the eventual workflow."

This definition covers what most testers and QA departments would want as part of their organization. Everyone wants a single source of truth documenting the project's goals and the necessary steps to get there. We all want to have a comprehensive understanding of the work that needs to happen to get results, feeling that we're on the same page.

Unfortunately, the real world doesn't work that way. Despite our best intentions, most test plans are a burden on the team at best or an utter waste of effort and resources at worst. Of course, plenty of organizations are successful with their test plans, but I'm willing to bet they're the exception, not the rule. Creating a test plan requires lots of work and long-term thinking to make it useful during the project's lifespan.

Source: Do You Really Need a Test Plan?, Dennis Martinez, https://dev-tester.com/do-you-really-need-a-test-plan/

---

*** Software Development Linkopedia ***

---

Text: Monolith vs. Micro Frontends

Text: Shitlist Driven Development

Text: Going Beyond Test Coverage

Text: Agile Coaching in a Nutshell

Text: How to invest in technical infrastructure

Text: Five Story-Splitting Mistakes and How to Stop Making Them

Text: How to Feel Less Overwhelmed as a Developer

Text: Hold my Beer: We Are Going Scrumban!

Video: Software Development Metrics You Should Use

Have you ever had a gut feeling a software development project is about to go off course but no way to validate (or invalidate) that feeling? Has your team ever been burned by an inaccurate estimate or unreasonable expectation? Have you ever wished you could peer a bit into the future? You need metrics!

Video: Why Architectural Work Comes Before Coding

How much architectural work needs to be done before you actually start coding? Should you know what software architecture is and how to use it even if you don't have the "software architect" title? And finally, how can you use diagrams to shape your software architecture?

Video: 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know

Discover the voices behind the "97 Things Every Java Developer Should Know" in this GOTO Book Club episode with Trisha Gee, Java Champion and leader of the Java Developer Advocacy team at JetBrains, and Kevlin Henley, thought provoker at Curbralan.

Video: From #Noprojects? to Continuous Digital

Once upon a time there was IT, and IT departments had projects. Projects were always a bad fit for software development, but somehow we made them work. As IT became Agile the damage caused by the project model became obvious and #NoProjects? emerged to help teams go beyond projects.

Video: The Art of JavaScript Code Comments

Commenting JavaScript code is a more nuanced thing than we give it credit for. There are a couple of schools of thought on this. One states that if you feel a comment is necessary, you should rewrite it to be more legible. This is true. But it is also not true.

Video: Abuse & Misuse of Test Automation

This video shares strategies for successful automation, the challenge of flaky tests, the perils of UI automation, and many other tips based on experience in test and test automation across dozens of high volume products. Whether you are deeply invested in test automation, or just getting started, learn practical tips you can apply to your own testing efforts immediately.

Video: Pragmatic Agile Scaling with Safety-Critical Products

Are Agile methods appropriate for safety-critical products? This presentation describes how an Agile project in the nuclear industry, has managed to be Agile while maintaining nuclear safety. A related issue is the complex nature of the work, spread over multiple teams in multiple companies, with work projected to continue for over 5 years.

Tools: Kakunin is a Protractor extension that allows writing e2e test scenarios with a help of Gherkin language and JavaScript for all kind of applications – Angular, React and others.

Tools: Open Source Test Management Tools Test management is defined by Wikipedia a part of the software testing process that includes the planning of tests and test cases, their execution and the storage and analysis of the tests results. This is achieved also by the integration with requirements management tools, functional software testing tools like Selenium or Cucumber, continuous integration tools like Jenkins or TeamCity, bug tracking tools like Bugzilla or Mantis, project management tools like Trello, Redmine or JIRA.

Tools: Using Commercial Scrum Tools for Free If the development of open source Scrum tools was in vogue some years ago, a lot of these projects have now been abandoned. Some are still active, but this is because their development is sponsored by a commercial hosted option. There is however an alternative to manage your Agile software development projects if you have a low budget… and a small team. Some providers of commercial Scrum tools provide a free version of their software, often with some limitations.

---

*** Promoted Software Development Conferences ***

---

deliver:Agile Live! a series of online sessions by the Agile Alliance

Agile2021, July 19-22 2021 - Online

Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, Portland, USA, October 11-13 2021

---

Contact us if you want your software development conference promoted here.
Find more upcoming conferences on SoftDevConferences.com, ScrumExpert.com, SoftwareTestingMagazine.com

---

*** Software Development Training ***

---

An Agile Crash Course: Agile Project Management and Agile Delivery: Think of this course as Agile for Dummies (or Agile for anyone and Agile for everyone). This Agile course will allow you to master the most important concepts and tools of Agile development, Agile project delivery and Agile project management. This Agile crash course has been designed to enable you to become agile the Agile way, in less than an hour! Step into my classroom and start learning about Agile now. You will learn about powerful tools and concepts that will enable you to become more successful in your projects. We will go beyond the definition of Agile, from rituals and tools, to activities, concepts, examples and reflections. So take the course now to learn what all of this means in more detail and how you can apply it to become and Agilelist.

---

Software Design and Architecture Specialization: In the Software Design and Architecture Specialization, you will learn how to apply design principles, patterns, and architectures to create reusable and flexible software applications and systems. You will learn how to express and document the design and architecture of a software system using a visual notation. Practical examples and opportunities to apply your knowledge will help you develop employable skills and relevant expertise in the software industry.

---

Contact us if you want to your training courses listed in this newsletter and reach 35'000 software development profesionnals worldwide.